The Night of the Murdered Poets

It sounds like the plot to a fantastic movie doesn’t it? Sadly the truth is a stain on history and yet another blot that fascism has left on our past.

On 12th August 1952, the execution of thirteen Soviet Jews in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow in the then Soviet Union was carried out, the charges? Counterrevolutionary crimes and organised action meant to topple, undermine, or weaken the Soviet Union, whatever that means.

The arrests of these men and women, who included five Yiddish writers who were all part of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, took place on September 1948 and June 1949, the men were then held for three years where they were tortured, beaten and kept in isolation before being formally charged.

The investigation claimed to have uncovered evidence that the accused had used the Jewish Anti-Fascism Committee as a means of spying and promoting anti-government sentiment. The indictment stated that the accused had been enemies of the government and that the Jewish Anti-Fascism Committee served as an international network for communicating anti-Soviet views. Overemphasis on exchanges of innocuous information between the Jewish Anti-Fascism Committee leadership and Jews in other countries, particularly Jewish American journalists solidified accusations of espionage and a formal request for Crimea to become the new Jewish homeland was used as evidence supporting the indictment.

These events happened a little after World War II and the death of these, mainly Jewish, men are overshadowed in history, but we think they are worth remembering. Below is a list of all the accused:

After the trial, Stalin continued his oppression of Jews with the Doctor’s Plot, an anti-Semitic campaign that saw Jewish doctors accused of trying to assassinate Soviet leaders. After Stalin’s death the plot was renounced and questions were asked of the Jewish Poets defendants when it became clear that most of the testimony was a result of torture and coercion. Soon after the proceedings were re-examined and it was found that there was “no substance to the charges” against the defendants and the case was closed. Sadly by then, the defendants were all dead.

CNN’s chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta, is currently writing a book concerning governmental pressures on the free press.

It is no secret that Jim Acosta and US President Donald Trump have had more than one head-to-head during White House briefings with the press. A contentious briefing after the mid-term elections prompted Trump to suspend Acosta’s press pass, however his decision was later overturned by a federal judge.

Acosta’s book, which was being written well before Trump’s attempted ban on the CNN correspondent, will show “never-before-revealed stories of this White House’s rejection of truth, while laying out the stakes for how Trump’s hostility toward facts poses an unprecedented threat to our democracy” according to the publishers HarperCollins.

Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting and many other gritty Scottish tomes is a regular on Twitter and can often be found wading in on the issues of the day.

The Scottish author and social commenter has made no secret of the fact that he thinks Brexit sucks and after government discussions, resignations and the possibility of a Brexit deal this week he’s made his feelings on the matter well known.Read More

With less than six months to go until one of the biggest splits for European politics in living memory, the British public still has far more questions than answers about Brexit. British journalist and novelist, James Meek has been taking a closer look at Brexit and what it will mean for the British public. His findings make for an interesting read in his new book called Dreams of Leaving and Remaining, which is to be published by Verso Books in March.Read More

JK Rowling defends her Queen of Twitter crown by tweeting Sarah Huckabee Sanders a quote from George Orwell’s book 1984.

On Thursday 8th November 2018 US press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted out a fake video in defence of the White House’s decision to ban CNN reporter Jim Acosta. The video shows a doctored version of what really happened at the press conference, with fakery meant to discredit Acosta, make him look more violent than he was, and make the decision to ban him less…reactionary and unpresidential.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has shown her hand with this poor choice of ‘evidence’- the video has been so obviously doctored with the video sped up to make it seem like Acosta used more force than he actually did. The desperation of Sanders and her team is palpable, going as far as using sources from well-known alt-right and conspiracy theorists to back up her POTUS’ ever-increasingly crazy claims.

Tweet after tweet after tweet in response to the doctored video put Sanders in her place (although she has yet to delete the fake video), and our fave JK Rowling joined in with a very apt quote from the dystopian fiction 1984.

Scarlett Curtis, the daughter of famed British screenwriter, producer and film director Richard Curtis, has stated she believes Disney’s Aladdin is ” a little bit racist” and has called for feminist endings to more of Disney’s fairytale stories. While appearing on Good Morning Britain, Scarlett stated the films give children, particularly girls, an “unrealistic expectation” of life and teaches young girls they should pursue their Prince Charming.